Period" in which land-owning families lived in the urban core and great immigrations from Europe, Latin America and the other Antilles had turned the originally small settlement into the cultural capital of Puerto Rico. The "Criollo Ponceno" or Ponce Creole architecture to which this building belongs is extremely important in itself since it represents the birth of a high-style native architecture, a hybrid of influences rather than the purely Spanish, or spontaneous vernacular expressions of previous centuries. In particular, the Frau Residence is significant within this genre as it was designed by one of Ponce's most well-known architects, Blas Silva. Silva was particularly well known among the wealthy classes of the period. His buildings can usually be characterized by what is popularly referred to as wedding-cake architecture of the landed nouyeau riche, for the richness of ornament and detail. Other buildings by Silva include the Monsanto Residence and the Salazar-Candal Residence, both listed in the NRHP." Isabel 53 The Salazar-Candal Residence located at Calle Isabel 53, but today occupied by the Museo de la Historia de Ponce is one of a group of stylistically eclectic houses built in Ponce between 1900 and 1915. Designed by architect Blas C. Silva in 1911, the building reflects an emerging tendency to incorporate freely disparate and competing architectural motifs. The facade is distinctly rendered in rococo and Moorish detailing to emphasize its bi-functional character as a home and an office respectively. Marina 27 The "fin de siecle" detailing and wall paintings present a material document of the 19th-century European immigration to Puerto Rico and the way of life of the landed bourgeois Criollo (Creole) class. In the architecture of Ponce of the period, elements of the Puerto Rican folk dwelling are integrated to Spanish and French-influenced classical detailing, thus resulting in a Ponce-Creole Architecture, of which the Zaldo de Nebot Residence at Calle Marina #27 is a prime example. Galleries Sample designs Architects in this movement See also Neoclásico Isabelino Notes References Further reading Jorge Rigau. Puerto Rico 1900: Turn-of-the-Century Architecture in the Hispanic Caribbean, 1890-1930.'' New York: Rizzoli International Publishers. 1992. External links ArtDeco en Ponce Elements to Bear in Mind on Ponce Architecture. By Jose Ortiz Colom. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Ponce Office. November 2007. Spanish Colonial architecture in Puerto Rico Architectural history Architectural styles Art Deco architecture Ponce, Puerto Rico Art Nouveau architecture 1895 establishments in Puerto Rico Puerto Rican architecture